Prayer Changes Everything… Two True Accounts Offering Eternal Perspectives….
When George McCluskey married and started a family, he decided to invest one hour a day in prayer, because he wanted his kids to follow Christ. After a time, he expanded his prayers to include his grandchildren and even great-grandchildren. Every day between 11:00 AM and noon, he prayed for the next three generations.
As the years went by, his two daughters committed their lives to Christ and married men who went into full time ministry. The two couples produced four girls and one boy. Each of the girls married a minister, and the boy became a pastor.
The first two children born to this generation were both boys. Upon graduation from high school, the two cousins chose the same college and became roommates. During their sophomore year, one boy decided to go into the ministry. The other didn’t. He undoubtedly felt some pressure to continue the family legacy, but he chose instead to pursue his interest in psychology.
He earned his doctorate and eventually wrote books for parents that became bestsellers. He started a radio program heard on more than a thousand stations each day. The man’s name – James Dobson.
Talk about the power of prayer! The next time you’re blessed by Focus on the Family or one of Dobson’s books, thank God for a generational watchman, George McCluskey.
Many kids are not as blessed with praying fathers.
At a 1994 Promise Keepers’ Conference in Denton Texas, Pastor James Ryle told his story:
When he was two years old, his father was sent to prison. When he was seven, authorities placed him in an orphanage. At 19, he had a car wreck that killed a friend. He sold drugs to raise money for his legal fee, and the law caught up to him. He was arrested, charged with a felony and sent to prison.
While in prison James accepted Christ, and after he served his time, he eventually went into the ministry. Years later he sought out his father to reconcile with him. When they got together, the conversation turned to prison life.
James’s father asked, “Which prison were you in?”
James told him, and his father was taken back. “I helped build that prison,” he said. He had been a welder who went from place to place building penitentiaries.
Pastor Ryle concluded, “I was in the prison my father built.”
Indeed! In more ways than one. These are amazing stories, powerfully contrasting two possibilities. We can either build prisons for our children or through prayer build fruitful lives that bless others.
Watchman Prayer: How to Stand Guard and Protect Your Family, Home and Community by Dutch Sheets, pages 105-107.